Improvement in invalid-bedsteads



J. W. WETMORE.

INVALID BEDSTEAD.

No.185,373. Patented Dec. 12,1876.

d WM TH E GRAPHIC CU-N.Y

SATEs NITE JEROME W. WETMORE, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 185,373, dated December 12, 1876 application filed September 17,1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthatI, JEROME W. WETMORE, of Erie, county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Invalid-Bedsteads; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of my invention, showing the adjustable or pivoted frame elevated; Fig. 2, a similar view, with the frame lowered, and Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal section.

This invention has relation to that class of bedsteads known as invalid-bedsteads, and the object and purpose are to provideasimple and ready means of elevating at any desirable angle a frame, over which is stretched a cloth or canvas, the same extending about half-way the length of the bed, and which is designed to be placed between the lower mattress or straw-tick and the upper mattress, so

that the patient may be raised without raising the head or the under mattress, and, at the same time, so connecting the frame to the bedstead that it can be raised and adjusted to the various thicknesses of the mattress, and also connecting the several operating parts in a manner that will admit of their being removed from the bedstead when the same is not required to be used as an invalid bedstead; the construction and combination of the several parts by which these results are obtained being hereinafter described, and subsequently pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a bedstead of the ordinary construction, to which my invention is applied. A frame, B, extending about half-way from the head to the foot of the bedstead, has secured thereto a suitable cloth or canvas, a, said frame being preferably composed of two side pieces or strips, 1), and a single end piece, 0, connected together by metal plates (1. This frame at its free ends has secured plates 6, by which the frame is pivoted to bars f, the ends of said bars passing down through guide-plates g secured to the inner sides of the bedstead A. By this arrangement the frame B can be raised to accommodate itself to the difierence in thickness of the lower and other mattresses over which the frame, with its cloth or canvas, is placed; also, the frame can be readily withdrawn from the bedstead when the same is not required to be used as an invalid-bedstead.

To the ends of the cross-piece c, or to the plates d, are attached chains or cords h, which pass over grooved rollers 1' upon the ends of standards 0, the lower ends thereof resting loosely in jackets j, fastened to the lower part of the head-board of the bedstead, thus allowing of their removal when they are not desired for use.

The cords or chains h, after passing over the rollers i, connect with a horizontal shaft, D, the ends of which have hearings in plates 70, and is operated by a crank-handle, l. A sliding dog or plate, m, is secured to the under side of the bedstead, which acts as a stop for the crank-handle l to prevent it from turning back, and thereby hold the frame B, with its cloth or canvas a, at the position required.

The operation of my invention will be readily understood from the following explanation The straw or other lower mattress is first placed in the usual manner upon the slats, after which the barsfof the frameB are inser ed within the guide-plates g, and the frame swung over on the mattress. The bars f, moving freely in the guide-plates, allow the frame to be adjusted to the thickness ofthe mattress, and readily removed from the bedstead when required.

After adjusting the frame B, as above described, a mattress or blanket is then laid over or on the canvas of the frame, covering it and the rest of the top of the bed, after which the shaft D is rotated by the crankhandle l, which, by means of the standards O and the chains or cords -h, raise the frame to the desired angle, when the dog or plate on is drawn out sufliciently to form a stop for the crank-handle, and thereby hold it and prevent it from turning back, thus retaining the frame B, with its cloth or canvas, at the position desired. The standards follow the frame, inclining forward as the frame is elevated, and also act as steadying-braces to the frame.

It will be seen that, by my invention, its peculiar construction of parts renders its easily FFKGE.

operated; also. readily applied to any of the ordinary forms of bedsteads; also capable of being detached therefrom when it is not required to be used as an invalid-bedstead Having now fully described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is--- 1. In combination with a suitable elevating mechanism, the removable and adjustable frame B, with cloth or canvas a, and plates 6, having pivoted thereto barsf, working loosely within guide-plates g, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with the frame B and cloth or canvas (1, of the removable standards (J, grooved pulleys i, and chains or cords h, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. An invalid-bedstead, consisting of the removable and adjustable frame B, with canvas (0, pivoted bars f, guide-plates g, removable standards 0, grooved rollers 43, cords 0r chains h, rotary shaft D, with crank-handle l, and the sliding dog or plate m, the whole combined to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JEROME W. WETMORE. Witnesses:

D. W. FITCH, J. W. CHANDLER. 

